The Adventures of a Christian Mom, Grandma and cancer surviver!

This is the new dining room tablecloth. When discussing tablecloths we used years ago, I suddenly remembered we ‘used’ to use a lace runner over the cloth – just to make it a bit more ‘fancy’ – found the runner – here it is:

Couldn’t decide which I like better: ‘with’ or ‘without’ runner; think I’ll leave the runner on for awhile and see just how it gets treated by ‘the guys’. If I remember correctly, I finally removed it years ago due to it getting caught in all things they tossed on the table: keys, notebooks, pens, work name tags, etc. (you get the idea). Just thought you’d like to see the Finished Project! (Photo #1 shows the color closest to the ‘actual’ color – you know how cameras tend to mess up color – unless, of course, you have a really fancy, expensive one – which I do not!)

Where do I start? Don’t know about your weather, but our’s is typical Michigan all the way. I wrote about the horrid snow-mess Sunday night, well today we have WARM – 46 degrees F. warm! It’s crazy; due to the weather all schools were closed yesterday – we (my guys & I) spent the ENTIRE day in our jammies! That was almost a first (don’t recall ALL of us doing that before).

This morning I got a call at 9 a.m. saying that my Ladies Bible Study was being cancelled – the roads were too slippery. I guess that would make sense – first huge amounts of snow, followed by freezing rain, then just cold (yesterday). I just got home from taking youngest on a jaunt to his girlfriends and it wasn’t the ‘slippery’ one had to watch out for – it was FOG! Especially around the lakes (and, here in Michigan, there are lakes EVERYWHERE!); plus something else we rarely see . . . standing water! You see, with the snow, rain and then melting, the ground can’t absorb all the water, hence there’s big puddles on roads that extend into the middle lane; hit one of those at full speed and you’re expecting a flooded engine, for sure! (done that one before – many, many years ago). We have a rather large puddle right outside our porch entry, requiring you be either a big stepper or a good short-jumper; anything less and you’ll end up with soaking shoes! (Many years ago – a good 12-15, we had this same problem and I remember my husband propping the porch door open and extending a 2 X 4 board from the center of the porch out beyond the huge puddle – it was the only way you could enter or exit our porch without getting wet feet.).

Along with my quick jaunt I was shocked to find that GAS PRICES have shot up immensely! A week ago we were seeing $3.29/9 regularly (this is for the lowest regular gas), then in a day it went to $3.39/9 . . . today I was lucky to find $3.56/9! I’d pulled into Speedway, as that’s usually the lowest prices in our area, but when I saw $3.59/9 I pulled right back out and tried Clark (which was my old ‘best prices’ place). Glad to find that Clark had it for $3.56/9 – Hey! Even 3 cents per gallon cheaper is savings; ya gotta save when ya ken these days (notice that brings out the Scots in me!). Sure hoping these prices drop soon – that’s ridiculous! (Haven’t had time to read the newspapers much lately – am wondering just what shot the prices so high?)

When I discovered I, indeed, had a FREE day, that set me to thinking: “Now – WHAT can I do that I normally wouldn’t do, for lack of time?” Clearing the dining room table, I got out the new blue material for the tablecloth and set to pinning it. (Would have finished it up with the sewing machine , had the machine not been upstairs in youngest’s bedroom – didn’t want to wake him). While pinning, middle son asked: “Could we have pancakes today? I’ll cook them if you don’t want to . . .” well . . . I love my son dearly BUT he makes huge messes in the kitchen when he cooks, so you know how that went. Made a double batch, plus scrambled eggs & orange juice (youngest woke up when he smelled the cooking) – the guys were all happy. After the cooking I really didn’t have the gumption to continue with the sewing project; finished mending a pillowcase which had 3 out of 4 sides coming unstitched – ugh. Next was drive youngest – stopped at the library and decided that since I had such a good time reading “Cranford” (almost done with that one), I checked out “Pride & Prejudice” by Jane Austen (specifically the college edition, complete with all sorts of footnotes & explanations!) After reading Cranford, I learned one needs to have those explanations – I don’t always think like the 1800’s! IF I like Pride, etc., I can see a whole new realm open to my reading – I’ve never been one for romances but was surprised to see that book under that catagory; we’ll see how this goes.

Dinner tonight is going to be Chicken Parmesan – ran into the chicken breasts in the fridge (thought I’d put them in the freezer, so it’s cook them NOW!) – ever have that happen? I can tell by all the flyers and ads in the newspaper & on TV, that the Superbowl is fast approaching. You will notice a considerable posting (by me) of various dips – just thought some of you might like to experiment some with those. Even with all the guys living here, sports has never been a huge event (and I’m glad). Our neighbors, on the other hand, LOVE all things sports and host great parties attended by their friends. (don’t get me wrong – they are GREAT neighbors – at times they used to send over a tray of jalapeno poppers, knowing I love them!) Anyway, I digress – here’s your recipes for the day:

Hope you’re have a great day (even a FREE one, if you let yourself!). I have about 1 hr 15 minutes before driving youngest to work. Just called Sears driving school to enroll him in Drivers Ed – learned something that, to me, was a bit ‘strange’: Since he is now 18 and legally/technically ‘an adult’, he will first have to read through the booklet: “What Every Driver Should Know” and take a written testBEFORE he can take drivers ed! I said: “WHAT? He has never taken drivers ed or driven a car – why?” She said it’s a new law and that he’s actually lucky, as the test for teens is much harder than for adults. The test is to give him a PERMIT – ridiculous! A PERMIT BEFORE he’s taken drivers ed? I can guarantee you that he’s NOT going to be driving OUR cars BEFORE he’s done with the course – (he was saying earlier that with the Permit he ‘could’ drive with a person in the car who’s over 21 – NO WAY!) After he completes the Permit test, I’m to call Sears Driving School and give them his permit # – she said that he cannot drive a car (DURING DRIVERS ED) with an instructor IN THE CAR WITHOUT the permit. CRAZY! Let’s just put it this was: “IN MY DAY” (read that circa 1966) you were to go through the entire drivers ed course, drive on a little driving course (no faster than 15 MPH, by the way), THEN take a final test and get your permit – none of this ‘horse before the cart’ stuff . . . just crazy, in my way of thinking. (but – if you ask my youngest, he’d say that I’m living in the stone age so none of that applies now days . . . sigh).

Last night was an ‘adventure’, to be sure – came out of church around 7:15 p.m. to find HUGE snowflakes coming down in rapid descent, sideways. Oh, No! Winter Snow storm – great. On the way home, when I normally would be driving 45-50 MPH, I was creeping along at 35 or less; let’s just say visibility was very limited and the roads very slippery. At one point I had been following another car, then they turned off and I was suddenly the lead dog on the sled – not able to even tell if I was ON the road, let alone in the correct lane, with (of course) other cars following me! Decided, almost home, that I’d better stop for milk & bread, seeing that this was NOT getting any better, so I stopped at a local drugstore. “May I help you?” (me: “Yes – I found the milk, where is your bread?”) “We don’t sell bread products any more.” (me: “WHAT? You USED to!”) It seems their bread delivery was from Hostess (you know – who made Twinkies and is now in court/receivership/bankruptcy, something like that). Great – now what! Ended up stopping at a 7/11 for bread and sliding home, safe. The reports were coming in “Freezing Rain due around 11 p.m.” – youngest was still out with his girlfriend, so I texted him to come home soon – he made it in by 10:30 only to tell me that he asked his girlfriend to let him off in the turn lane because her little/light-weight car wouldn’t have made it up our driveway – smart move! It’s now 3 p.m. and we’re all safely ensconced here at home, still in our jammies! No schools open in our area and the outside temperature now is 44 degrees! All the snow that ‘was’ on my car has slid off, roads are clear and any icicles on the roof are rapidly melting. Ah, Michigan-the old saying still goes: “Don’t like our weather? Stick around a few minutes and it will change!”

The guys talked me into making another big batch of spaghetti yesterday; I was all ready to make a big batch of chili but they would NOT be moved! “But, Mom! You KNOW this house runs on spaghetti! Give us what we want/need!” (How can you object when they LIKE a food I cook? – I caved. . .). I was looking over my recipe ‘stash’ (those I’ve been gleaning from various sites) and trying to fix the mix-up of the previous post when I made a discovery – a few months ago I thought it looked like I was missing some of the recipes – I found them! Somehow (probably some error on my part) they ended up being saved to a ‘draft’ file of my CROCKPOT recipes! Spent a good hour or so just copying & pasting the ‘regular’ recipes to another file, thus freeing up the crockpot recipes to be exclusively JUST crockpots. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there were a good 50-60 ‘mis-filed’, so there are quite a few ready to post to you now!

–
1 large crusty loaf of bread, unsliced
1 C. basil pesto
salt & pepper
2 C. mozzarella cheese, grated
1 C. Parmesan cheese, grated
–
Preheat oven 400 degrees F.
Line a large baking sheet with foil sprayed
with nonstick spray. Place bread in center,
slice bread carefully without cutting all
the way to bottom of loaf. Slice it going
the other direction, so that you have lots
of little 1 inch squares all over the top of
the loaf. Pour the pesto on a bowl, add just
a bit of salt & pepper. Using a butter knife,
spread pesto inside the loaf along every
sliced part of the bread. Pull the slices
apart & push a bit of both shredded
cheeses into each little crevice. Wrap
bread up in aluminum foil on the baking
sheet. Bake 10 minutes. Uncover bread &
allow to remain in oven until cheese is melted
and a bit golden in color. Take bread out of
the oven; let cool just a bit before serving.
Makes 7 servings.

Tomorrow is Ladie’s Bible Study and, since our church is about 2 minutes down the road from the cancer center, am planning on delivering the pink/brown yarn chemo caps I was hurrying to finish. Managed to get three done and a friend at church who also likes to knit charity items handed me a bag yesterday with 2 more chemo caps and 3 little baby hats! We’re ‘on a roll’ again, it would appear! What have YOU got planned for the week? Hopefully it’s something you enjoy doing or going to! It’s hard to believe that this week is the end of January already! Are you happy with your ‘beginning of the new year’? So far, for me it’s been OK – nothing really sad/bad, nothing monumental – and that’s a GOOD thing!

Not sure just why, but today just feels like a Saturday – you know, that feeling you get when you finally come to the weekend and don’t have all of the ‘normal’ week-day duties/chores/things to do? For a change, that’s what’s happening here – no particular thing/place/chore to do – YAY! Slept in a little later, got up and thought: “OK – NOW what do I do?” Well, since middle son moved back home AND we changed out the bunk bed, his room still looks disheveled. I’ve been looking it over and decided that a few things moved to different locations within the room would be just what was needed – you guessed it, I got to work. Not a BIG task, but just a lot of moving: clothes, paperwork, boxes, various piles of video games & books, laundry baskets full of clothes (who knows if they’re CLEAN or not!). My dear husband was good enough to help me out (I’m sure he knew that once I got started I’d need his strength). We moved a medium-sized bookcase across the room, then took the drawers out of our biggest chest of drawers and moved that over to where the bookcase used to be. Amazing how just that little change made the room look more like an adult lives here! He hasn’t returned home from work yet, so I’ll be anxious to see what he thinks of it. His younger brother came into the room and proclaimed: “TOO MUCH CHANGE! I can’t handle it!” (said in a joking manner). I love having little ‘challenges’ to do or look forward to (still haven’t even ‘thought’ about sewing the dining room table cloth – that will come . . .)

This is one of those weeks that have shaped up not exactly as I’d hoped. We got notice that not one, but two, people we loved have passed on. One is my husband’s cousin’s daughter – we’re going to the memorial service; we just learned that she had lung cancer and just let it go too long. The other is a very old friend – she & her husband have been missionaries for longer than I am old; they are AMAZING people. Not exactly sure of their ages, but they’ve got to be pushing 90. A few years ago they moved in with their daughter (about 1 hour away), then afterwards, to a nursing home. She’s had frail health for years (heart problems) but he recently succumbed to Alzheimer’s. Now is when you tend to think about the progression of things and marvel at the Lord’s blessing on this whole situation. He is now to the point that I don’t think he would realize that she died – that’s a good thing! If it were he that passed first, she would have grieved greatly – they’ve been, as she used to say, Sweethearts, since high school. Sad, but I know that she’s in heaven praising her Lord and Savior – that was her greatest hope and now she’s accomplished it!

How is your weather? Ours has remained about the same – in the low teens or maybe up to 20 during the day. Lately we’ve also had snow flurries – nothing to worry about . . . yet. (it’s not sticking). Just very cold, bone-chilling temperatures outside (thank heavens for a warm house, clothes and food for our bodies). Speaking of food – lots of nice, warm recipes for ya!

I’m hoping that all of the above recipes are ‘new’ to you – I had a large error on my computer which somehow combined all my regular blog recipes (the ones I save for you, here) with the crockpot recipes I save for my crockpot group – BIG MESS. My computer has this lovely little ‘thing’ it likes to do every once in awhile – it will fill any note/message/recipe, etc. with random AAAAAAA – this will be in the middle, end, where ever it feels like it! The last mess I refer to had a good 4 INCHES worth of A’s – in the middle of a recipe, and then, interspersed in others . . . fun . . . NOT! Anyway, hoping the above are all new recipes and not some I might already have posted. Due to the above ‘mess’ I have a good 30 or more recipes to hand go-through looking for AAA’s and taking out recipes I’ve already posted. sigh . . .

Ah well, what would life be were it not for some complications/troubles/etc.? Right? The trick is not to let them get you down (sometimes easier said than done) but as long as we keep on trying, things will work out in the end. To quote one of my favorite sayings: “Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end!” (I was pleasantly surprised to hear that quoted in the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2011) – I’ve written about that movie, I think about 2-3 months ago – good movie!

Anyway, friends – guess I’d better close for now and get on with my evening!

Here we are in an Artic Freeze (my term) – our temperatures are in the teens & lower. Went to Knit Night last night, it was 5 degrees F. out – I was happily amazed to see 14 ladies came out in the cold to knit/crochet together! None seemed the least bit surprised that others came, either. I spent a little over 2 hours yesterday phoning all of my special needs students & their group homes, telling them we’re cancelling our Wednesday meeting (tonight) due to the cold. We have, probably, about 8 students in wheelchairs, or using walkers and when it’s this cold, they really suffer because it takes them longer to get from a van/car to inside the building (even if their caregiver is a fast wheelchair pusher!). That means that I have a FREE night tonight! Today, also, is my dear husband’s 61st birthday! I’m making him a banana cake with cream cheese frosting later on today. I asked him if he would like his favorite dinner (Meat & Potato Pie) but he seemed rather non-plused about it – “I don’t know – I’m not real excited about it being my birthday” (but that’s ‘him’ – he doesn’t get excited about anything very often.) I had no clue what to buy him for a present, so I located some books I thought he’d enjoy: 2 Clive Custler’s we don’t have and a used book from the library “Hidden Treasures of the World” – one of those photo books about various antiques/places, etc. – I’m pretty sure he’ll like that one.

Delivered the 50 baby hats on Monday; I’m averaging about 50 every 2 months, so that’s a pretty good output. Have 2 chemo caps done (using the brown & pink yarn) and working on one more – hoping to deliver them next Tuesday after Bible study (our church is just down the road from the cancer center – makes sense to drive there afterwards, to save gas – it’s about a 20 minute drive from our house). It was interesting last night observing the various projects some of my ladies are working on; one of the new ladies was knitting an Entrelac scarf (NOT an easy pattern, for sure!):

It’s knitting in two directions, making the stitching look weaved – it’s one I have in my “perhaps I’ll try one day” pile – definitely NOT for a beginner! Several were knitting various scarves in several different patterns. One was finishing up another of those ‘lace yarn’ scarves (like I knit). I love going to Knit Night because I can see other patterns/ideas/projects I might not even attempt and ALSO there are the people who are working on them to gather information from! One of our members who hasn’t been to a meeting in a good 2-3 years, now works for JoAnn fabrics and was telling us that if we had anything we’d like help on, she’d be more than willing to teach us – GREAT! She helped another of our members get the ‘knack’ of how to knit the lace yarn by sitting her down and giving her the scarf she’d been working on: “Here – you take it and I’ll show you how to begin!” Pretty neat, eh?

Well, now that we’re definitely into the COLD months, I’ve got quite a few great soups, stews & casserole recipes for you:

===================

Remember that these are NOT my personal recipes, I glean them from various sources and note the donor/site at the bottom of each recipe.

baking dish. Mix together next 3 ingredients;
pour over vegetables then sprinkle top
with paprika. Bake, uncovered, 35 minutes.

(recipe: Leona-justapinch.com)
————————————–

Butternut Squash Risotto

–
2 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped

2 t. fresh sage, chopped
1 small butternut squash, peeled,
seeded & grated or finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 C. arborio rice
1 C water
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese, grated
4 C. chicken stock
–
Heat oil in deep skillet or pot over
medium heat. Add onion, salt &
pepper; saute 4 minutes until onion
is softened but not browned. Add
sage & cook 1 minute. Add squash
& garlic; cook 3 minutes. Heat
chicken stock in a saucepan; keep
simmering. Add rice to vegetables &
cook 3 minutes until rice kernals become
chalky. This helps release the starch in
the rice & is an important step in the
creaminess of the risotto. Add water
to deglaze pan; cook 3 minutes. Add
one ladleful of hot stock at a time to
the rice mixture while stirring. Do not
add any more stock to rice until the
liquid is evaporated. Continue doing
this until all of the stock is absorbed.
This is a slow process, do not rush it.
when all stock is incorporated, remove
from heat and add Parmesan cheese.
Serves 4

That’s the news from a cold, breezy Michigan; hope you’re WARM and enjoying your day. I’m currently amusing myself with a book I picked up at the library: “Cranford” by Elizabeth Gaskell. I learned of this book from a knitting site; it’s a fiction story of a English country town in mid nineteenth century. It’s a bit of a struggle reading it, as the wording is not exactly ‘as we speak these days’, but I’ve decided to plow through it anyway. There is also a connecting video: “Return to Cranford”-this features Dame Judith Dench, Jonathan Pryce and several others – as per the back cover: “an all-star cast re-unite in this heart-warming 2 part sequel to the Emmy-winning BBC/PBS mini-series.” Haven’t watched the video yet, hopefully it will be a little easier to follow than the book. I DO enjoy period pieces (even though this book is a bit to plow through), so we’ll see . . .

Just checked our local weather forecast for the next few days: today High 18, low 9/Thurs high 20, low 14/Friday high 23, low 17 (oh, and periodic snow fluries for those days, too ). Right now they’re saying it’s a balmy 10 degrees F. out there – it’s SUNNY! YAY! Am planning on stopping at the grocery store after dropping youngest at work at around 3:45, purchasing the ingredients to make the Meat & Potato Pie.

How’s your weather doing? Here, it’s a gray, over-cast-type day – temperatures in the mid 30’s, mostly. Right now it’s a ‘balmy’ 45! Amazing! It’s been kind of gloomy (weather-wise) for days now, mostly in the really chilly, slightly windy area, so I’m rather amazed at a 40’s temperature – neat! Ooooooooops, I spoke too soon – just looked at the forecast for the next 4-5 days. Sunday 25 & windy, low 16/Monday 20 slight snow, low 7/Tuesday 15 slight snow, low 6/Weds. 23 snow & low of 15 – that’s enough for me – don’t want to read any more. Sometimes I’m better off NOT knowing what it’s going to do – then I tend to be OPTIMISTIC!

Yesterday we had a small celebration in our family – our youngest finished his required classes and is now a HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE! (Technically, he doesn’t do the actual graduation ceremony until June, but he got a completion certificate yesterday). I made him a batch of double dark-chocolate brownies with chocolate chips, frosted in chocolate with the words: “Yay, Eric! You DID IT!” He liked that.

Today’s mostly been a ‘catch-up’ cay: finished a premie baby hat, started another chemo cap and another newborn hat; looked over the house bills, caught up the check book with the banks figures, did a little paperwork for the special needs group – next is doing some catching up on information for the new Knit Group people. I try to keep a running list of their names, addresses, phone #’s & email addys, just in case I have to contact them (been kind of lazy in that area – need to correct that).

Got sort of ‘lost in thought’ today on a (new to me) recipe site: http://www.pilgrim.com. It’s a chicken company and they have 40 pages of just dinner recipes (also breakfast & lunch). I’ve copied some of them for you and will insert them here, a little at a time (you don’t want to be buried with just chicken, do you???)

Still am dragging my feet a bit on the ‘sewing a new dining room table cloth’ project. Stopped at JoAnn Fabrics last week and bought material (wanted a federal blue/colonial blue but they didn’t have that – ended up with more of a royal blue???) It will work, just have to hem it. (more like: go upstairs, drag down the 1940’s portable sewing machine, hook it up, then proceed). Also bought material for new porch curtains – same thing there – just have to DO IT! I’m finding out that I’m slowly developing a liking for WalMart (help me!!!). Went there last week and am very happy they carry the plain hummus in HUGE containers (don’t have that around here). I find I tend (a bit) to ‘impulse buy’ – got new rods for porch curtains, a medium candle (Peach/Mango scent – very nice), and some ‘take & bake’ ready-made pizzas (I would, normally, NEVER do that!) Good thing Walmart is not CLOSE to me – (about 25 min. away) or I’d be over-buying ALL the time!

Fill each cupcake liner 1/4th full of cake
batter. Mix brown sugar & cinnamon in a
small bowl. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of
cinnamon mixture over cake batter
in tins. Pour cake batter in tins until
2/3 rds full, noÂ more. Sprinkle another
teaspoon cinnamon sugar on top.
Using a toothpick, swirl cinnamon sugar
around top of cupcake. Bake 15 minutes
or until a toothpick inserted in center
of cupcake comes out clean. Cool on
a rack.

Here we are at Tuesday – (I almost typed in Monday – wow, am I out of it?). Was supposed to go to Ladies Bible Study this morning but was feeling VERY rebellious – don’t know why, exactly, except I just felt like being “froward” (that’s a word used in the Bible – means “Obstinately Willfull” and I fit that description to a T! Got up in a really cranky mood (didn’t want to ‘rub off’ on my fellow Bible study ladies – not because I thought they’d be shocked, but just because . . . After reading my friend Mary’s (Momma) blog about the idea of changing things up a bit after Christmas and how drab my house felt minus all the bright shiny objects and red decorations, I wanted to go out and BUY something! Ended up at JoAnn fabrics and bought some royal blue fabric to make a new table cloth. (I was hoping to find a Federal Blue – cornflower blue but the darker, more vibrant blue was all they had in the fabric I’d chosen. Now, I will admit here – I’M NO SEAMSTRESS! The best I can do is hem up said fabric to approximately the size that’s on my table now, but it makes me happy. Also had fun buying more yarn (I hear you: MORE yarn???) – Yep! Finally found the really pretty sock yarn I’d been looking for – it’s a Debra Norville variegated purples – I’ve used it before to knit a chemo cap but then couldn’t find any more of it! (bought 2 skeins – sock yarn comes in really tiny skeins). Bought more Bernat’s Baby Jacquards yarn – this time in a variegated yellow and one in lavenders; I LOVE this yarn because it’s SELF DESIGNING! My VERY favorite is their rose-colored blend – when you knit with it it makes it’s own design which comes out looking like you were very clever and knit a band of red flowers & green leaves! I LOVE IT (but, of course, they didn’t have that blend – haven’t seen it in quite some time – might have to go on-line and order it.) When I was at the Radiologist yesterday the nurse told me that the patients really LOVE one particular yarn color I knit hats with – it’s a chocolate brown and variegated pinks, so I told her I’ll find it and knit more in that color range. I just happened to have enough in my stash to make the border ‘cuff’ using that yarn (for 2 hats) and then knitting the cap itself in a medium pink. Found more of the chocolate brown/pink at JoAnns and bought a skein. Went on line last night & ordered 2 more skeins, so I’ll be ‘set’ for awhile (and so will the chemo hats).

Managed to set up the delivery of 50 more baby hats for this coming Monday. This time it’s 20 newborn, 20 Premie & 10 really tiny hats. I love doing them – they knit up quickly and I can make so many variations using different yarns (plus, being small, I can use up small bits of yarn in my stash).

Our weather lately has been, I guess you’d say, sort of typical of this time of year in Michigan (and sort of like last year): it’s been chilly (in the 20’s) but clear & sunny – go figure! We ‘were’ supposed to get some snow by Thursday but the revised forecast just says mostly 30’s for the week (slight chance of snow tomorrow – but I’m being optimistic and hoping it won’t!).

Food-wise, not much new; made the White Bean/Chicken soup for dinner last night – it’s a good one for cold nights (recipe is in another blog entry from last year???). Looking through many recipes from various sites, there are some really good-sounding ones. It’s sometimes hard for me to choose what to post here – they ALL sound great!

(My blog server just totally changed up my settings, so this might be a bit different than my old posts; we’ll see). Where do I start? This past week sort of blurs into one big blob of constant motion. Knit Night Tuesday – we had 19 in attendence, almost maxed out the space we’re now in! Three new ladies – I’m happy we’re growing but not exactly sure just what/where we’re going if this keeps up! Oh well – it’s a ‘nice’ conundrum, for sure. Wednesday was my Special Needs group – first meeting back after Christmas. We were a bit ‘light’ on attendees BUT we also had a great friend that’s a missionary to Durban, South Africa come visit us! (He’s one of the son’s of the original founder of our group; his sister (special needs) and his brother (college kid/helper) are both in our group. SEE: Key of Hope in the right side blogs – that’s his ministry. It was a great experience just hearing of his ministry. When he started it, five years ago, he moved his wife and four daughters there – permanently. They minister to children who’s lives are GREATLY affected by AIDS; many have lost their entire family to the disease. He told us that when he first started he ministered to ONE GIRL. Then it grew to 17 children; right now, on Saturdays, they hold a Bible study for 750 children! They’re running out of room to hold them! He said that they (with helpers) go around and visit each and every one of the children, during the week – seeing how they’re doing, what they might need (food, clothing, medical help) and then implementing the help whenever they can. I can’t even wrap my brain around that amount of children, let alone imagine myself heading up a group that large! He’s an amazine young man (I think he’s in his mid 30’s now) with a goal – it’s a honor to be one of his friends and to be humbled by his service to the Lord. It just rejuvinates me to jump in with both feet in our ministry to our special needs kids.

Thursday was ‘help our middle son move his stuff home’ day. My husband & I drove to Holly and got ‘some’ of his belongings. I guess, in the move from the apartment to this house, things were just sort of grabbed & grouped together, making sorting out just ‘his’ things that much more difficult. When we got home I made up a list of things I remember sending with him a month ago, so that when he goes back he’ll have some idea what he’s still missing. Among the missing items is ONE SHOE! Who looses ONE SHOE? Only my son! The new house he ‘was’ supposed to live in was really nice – newly built, out in the country – very nice, next to a woods; ah, but that wasn’t to be. Middle son seems quite content to be ‘back in the fold’ for awhile; sometimes that’s just what they need before venturing ‘out’ again. Thursday was also babysit grandson day – we had a great time playing board games (he beat me quite a few times – THIS TIME I wasn’t even TRYING to let him win! He’s getting good!). Friday was ‘get the Christmas decorations DOWN!” day. Tree is down and in it’s box, decorations are in their boxes; only things left are the manger scene to be packed and then carrying all those boxes back upstairs and organizing their storage. Glad to see it done, but (like my friend Mary/Momma) the house looks rather bleak. One of her readers to her blog said that, in the same situation, she chose to go out and buy new throw pillows and a new dining room table cloth – great idea! (we already have new throw pillows BUT the idea of a new table cloth intrigues me! Something to ‘spark up the drab’, so to speak.)

Weather-wise it’s a SPRING-LOVER’s DREAM! The snow is almost all gone – yesterday it was semi-warm (in the 40’s); when I stepped outside it felt like SPRING! Today it’s supposed to get up to 58 degrees! (it’s already around 52!). I remember we had a really strange winter last year, much like this. Not complaining any – I guess we’re supposed to get a bit of light snow tomorrow and temperatures are supposed to drop to the mid 30’s, which would be about normal for this time of year in Michigan.

Craft-wise, have finished three chemo caps which I’ll deliver Monday to Radiology – have to go in for a routine check up. Am almost up to my personal goal on the baby hats: 20 Premie/7 really tiny/19 newborn. Am thinking of delivering them when I get the last newborn hat done. (was originally going to go for 50, but think I’ll be happy with 20 of each – who knows? I might still knit 3 more tiny ones, just to even the delivery number – I’m weird like that!). Also started working on finishing a baby blanket for a friend’s daughter who’s due (I think) around March – it’s going to be a girl. I had started crocheting peach colored squares last Fall and then put it away. Brought out the ‘stash’ and have the needed 15 peach and am working on 15 white, then I’ll put it together. Am planning on crocheting a flower on the center square (like I did for one of the baby blankets for the Detroit Vet’s Hospital blankets last September).

Been doing a lot of driving lately, taking or picking up youngest son. He will be DONE with his schooling this coming Friday – he has A’s & B’s, so he should finally GRADUATE! He’s not exactly sure yet about the details of it; I remember talking to the counselor at the beginning of his studies at this school and she said they do a graduation ceremony – cap & gown/diploma – the whole thing. Even though he didn’t graduate his regular high school, he will have a valid diploma from this school – I’m very grateful! Not sure, yet, what his plans are – he’s still working at Meijer as a cashier – he needs to take Drivers Ed. He said he’s planning on taking that FIRST, then asking for full time employment. We’ll see where this goes.

Food-wise, I’ve been cooking a bit – 2 huge batches of spaghetti, Potatoes O’Brian, and yesterday husband decided he wanted Little Caesar’s $5.00 pizzas, so we had them for lunch and leftovers for dinner! I find myself missing the little ‘grab & go’ desserts – homemade cookies, cheesecake or pumpkin pie slices! (YES, I KNOW! Not good for me – but I MISS THEM!!!) I do have a box of blueberry muffin mix I might just put together – to ‘ease my cravings’ (wink).

Quick note – was just going over my “Spam” folder and eliminating those comments. As I hit the ‘delete’ I noticed there was a ‘comment’ from Debbie in Austin, Tx and it looked like a GOOD comment (not spam). Sorry, it already got erased by the time I noticed it BUT I just wanted to say THANK YOU, Debbie, for commenting! (I don’t usually read the Spam, as most of it is there only to ‘advertize’ whatever someone else wants, in the form of a comment – I was taught that by my dear friend “Momma’s” son, Les, who taught me some of the ‘ins & outs’ of blog writing. He said that what usually hits your spam folder might look OK in the comment, but be sure to look at the (whatever you call that) computer ‘signature’ under their name – there you’ll usually find what they’re ‘pushing’ – sometimes it’s selling stuff, sometimes it’s worse (porno junk). I don’t usually even LOOK at the Spam stuff – I just dump it.

Sooooo – I say that to get to the bottom of this: IF you comment (and I love when you do) I hope it lands in the ‘comments’ and not the ‘spam’ folder’!

Today was another check up mammogram on the surgery side and, as the radiology tech & I looked at the films we both agreed – looks clear to us! She compared the last ones from August and remarked: “Wow! They look identical – mirror image!” I noticed that the scarring is getting smaller and she said: “It’s supposed to.” Later on I called my Oncologist’s office to find out the results from several blood tests they did Dec. 28th – the report came back: “Normal”! YAY! THANK YOU, LORD! That means there weren’t any cancer cells loosely floating around in my body – that’s a really GOOD thing! I’ve noticed that I’m slowly feeling a little stronger every day – not so much fatigue. Did a lot of ‘little’ errand running today: to the hospital first for the mammo, then to the drugstore, home, then to the library, Township offices (to pay our Winter Taxes), stopped at KMart to return something, then Tim Horton’s for coffee and a small treat for husband & I (blueberry muffins!). Normally, that kind of ‘running’ would cause me to have to take a very long rest with nothing else to ‘do’ for the rest of the day. I read a book for a good 2 hours (the book I mentioned before: the actual life story of the Countess of Highclere Castle, on which the Masterpiece Theater’s production of “Downton Abbey” is fashioned after). Just finished dinner: Spaghetti & garlic toast. I made that very dinner last night and the guys were ravenous (or so it would seem) – all the garlic toast was gone and just ONE serving left of the spaghetti! Now, I’m not bragging, but I make a BIG pot ‘o spaghetti (1 1/2 lbs. of dry spaghetti noodles, 2 jars of Prego and whatever meat – last night it was meatballs and the cut up remains of some leftover pork chops; tonight it was the leftover remains of a pork roast and cooked hamburger). Normally I would not, ever, repeat the same meal two nights in a row, but the guys really wanted it – so they got their wish (let’s see how long this second batch lasts!). The good thing about this was: I was able to use the leftover meats (if I have any, I usually cut them into bite-sized pieces & freeze them), plus all of the leftover hamburger & hot dog buns in the house (and that was a considerable amount!). There is a cartoon featured in our local newspaper called: “Pluggers” – we love the humor AND it usually fits our family to a ‘T’. I have one I cut out years ago which has a Mom standing over the oven – the caption is: “A plugger’s garlic bread looks suspiciously like hot dog buns.” SO TRUE! I butter them, sprinkle with garlic powder & Italian spices then cover with Parmesan cheese and put them under the broiler until nicely browned.

For those of you who are ‘on the ball’, my Christmas decorations & tree are still up! And, YES, I still plug in the lights every night, including the lighted wreath in the window. Why? No particular reason except I just haven’t felt the ‘need’ to take them down yet! It will get done – eventually. I remembered, this evening, that I still need to take a ‘gift’ out of the box and ‘use’ it. One of my special needs guys gave me a Amaryllis bulb (comes in a box with plastic pot & ‘soil’ – you just dampen the ‘soil’, place some of it in the pot, arrange the bulb on the soil, cover with remaining soil, water and wait.) It’s funny because I was thinking this year that I really wanted to get over to ACO hardware simply because they SELL those and I wanted to buy one – totally forgot – then I get one for Christmas! I love watching them grow – this one is a vibrant red; I’ll try to remember to take a photo when it blooms – they usually produce about 5-6 flowers – very pretty. It’s nice to know there will be a little ‘Spring’ in the house during a cold, grey winter. Speaking of weather – it’s been pretty decent here: in the 30’s during the day and high 20’s at night, no new snow! It was warm enough, with enough bright sunlight today, to melt a good part of the ice on the driveway and other roads; supposed to stay that way until Thurs & Fri when we’re expected to get rain. Rain’s not bad – as long as it doesn’t FREEZE!

Craft-wise I’m still knitting chemo & baby hats; next Monday I have a visit to my Radiologist (just a routine check-up) and I’ll deliver whatever chemo caps I have done, at that time. Not much else ‘new’ around here; today I was commenting that it sort of feels ‘good’ to finally have all of the ‘holiday’ foods gone (still have some pumpkin pie and maybe 2 slices of cheesecake, but I’m sure those aren’t here for long). Now we’re into the ‘winter’ recipes: soups, crockpot meals – the hot & hearty of the season. How are YOU doing lately? Send me a comment – I love hearing from you!